Snowy Shenanigans
-KABOOM!- A chorus of whoops and hollers follow the distant explosion, and a bright orange plume of fire and smoke wafts up from what seems to be a truly /massive/ mechanoid skeletal structure of some kind of metal mammoth. It's clearly dead, and has been for a while, used for target practice. A great distance away, across the snowy, flat tundra is a pavilion that's crowded with Autobot weaponsmiths, engineers and scientists alike, all eager to field test their experiments. Snow drifts on a very faint wind and keeps the average-sized mechs up to their knees in it. Those that serve as security have gone off to... play around in the snow. This includes making snowmechs, creating snow forts and of course hurling snowballs at one another. They're not being very good security, buuuut things seem pretty safe way out here! Sandstorm is one of the mechs whooping it up as snow plumes in the air from the latest blast. Sure, technically he was suppose to be part of 'security', but slag that. This is where the real fun is as far as he's concerned. That and he's just enough sekrit geek enough to actually understand what these eggheads are doing with their munitional trial and error. Not that most people would be able to tell when he's sitting on top of a cooler shoved part way into the snow to keep the ener-brews inside chilled, and curretly hollering like a redneck at a pumpkin chucking compatition. "Nice impact but you aimed a little high. The center of the skull is about two meters lower!" "Thissucksthissucksthissucksthissucks..." Imager laments as she shifts around warily, the normally boisterous and confident Femme acts as if the entire DHC was going to spring out of the snow at her. Careful where she treads, the bulky Femme manages a worried smile to the crew. "So uh...great job and all, blew up that pistonmammoth real good." She motions away from it, "What do you say, we pack it in and get out of here?" She adds to nobody in particular through a grimace, "Anyone? Nah?" She wrings her hands, "Kay...I'll get back to work then." The Operations member starts doublechecking what generators and power couplings are around, ensuring things are going good, and to keep her busy. Snow or explosions, snow or explosions... For Zipline, she'd prefer both. When the testing weapon was fired, Zipline is there to watch it go off. She lets out a whoop of excitement at the burst of brilliant oranges and yellows. Only she's admiring the explosion like it was some sort of firework instead of some piece of some weapon they were testing. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Ba-da-boom!" But then the explosion was over, and the boring science process begins anew. "Okay, let me know when the next one goes off." In a blur of yellow, she bolts back into the snow. Or at least that's how she intended it. As soon as her paws hit the slick surface at her attempted high speeds, her paws slip, and she ends up sliding towards her destination on her belly instead. Yeah, her first foray into the snow with her new body is not going so well. Torque wasn't exactly a weaponsmith, but she knew her way around engineering despite her medic status. Plus, she's strong and a helping hand is always needed. Right now she's pulling double duty, towing munitions to and from the testing site while also helping plow out a smoother path for those less equiped for snow travel. Sandstorm may or may not end up buried in a cascade of snow as Torque barrels on past with her snowplow attatchment on the way back to the pavilion. "Coming through!" She warns cheerily, lights flickering with her speech. Once at the pavilion she shifts back into robot mode and wheels the spent munitions to one side for inspection. And yes, those are totally knitted antenna warmers she's wearing. "What's wrong, Imager? Not a snow fan?" The medic beams over to the far larger femme, clearly having a great time out here. "Ah, yes! Sandstorm has the right idea. Yes, let me try it aga-" Solder gets his epic rocket launcher taken away from him by the scientist heading this little operation. "I think you've had enough tests, we're going to be out a target if you keep it up, and damned if we can get anyone to hunt down another one of those things!" says Illume. "The Wreckers would!" Air Raid pipes just before getting smacked in the face with a snowball. He pivots and nearly trips over Zipline as she slides across his path. "Hey watch it!" Another techy type steps up to bat, so to speak and begins charging up his... well it's definitely some type of gun. Looks kinda' like Loadout. Imager grimaces to Torque, "Ahh, no, no not really. I'm packing 11.2 Gigahertz of energon capacity..." She raises up her shield to the wind, just to make sure she's covered, "and snow is just water that ain't melted yet. I am not exactly lookin forward to getting all personal with the weather here." She abashedly looks away, one of the few times her bravado fails her. Torque may hear a half-muttered breath about idiot mechs with proper armor coatings before she looks towards the next display. "Right..." She hefts up a large energon battery, and puts it on her shoulder, "all work and no massive amounts of electrical trauma...something something." The Femme manages a weak smile to Torque, "Just uh...keep your tools nearby, huh?" Imager grimaces to Torque, "Ahh, no, no not really. I'm packing 11.2 Gigahertz of energon capacity..." She raises up her shield to the wind, just to make sure she's covered, "and snow is just water that ain't melted yet. I am not exactly lookin forward to getting all personal with the weather here." She abashedly looks away, one of the few times her bravado fails her. Torque may hear a half-muttered breath about idiot mechs with proper armor coatings before she looks towards the next display. "Right..." She hefts up a large energon battery, and puts it on her shoulder, "all work and no massive amounts of electrical trauma...something something." The Femme manages a weak smile to Torque, "Just uh...keep your tools nearby, huh?" Apocryphacius has arrived. FWOOMP! Sandstorm topples over as he gets snow plowed on top of him. It takes a moment or two for him to dig himself out, but he's laughing as he does so. "Thanks Torque, that'll really keep the brews cold! Like ice cold." He climbs out of the snow, but then just stands on top of the pile and thrusts a fist overhead. "TOP OF THE WORLD BABEE!" Or king of the hill. Whatever. "Com'n, blow something else up already!" Torque keeps her grin, antennas flicking happily and the dangly fluffball ends of the warmers wagging. "You should! Shame we never had snow before. Was fun back on Earth, but somehow it's better here." Talk of keeping her tools nearby earns Imager a snicker and a tip of the head with a lax salute. "Will do." Turning to take another shipment of ammo and guns over to the shooting range, Torque pauses when Zipline slides into view and Raid almost trips over her. She can't help laughing at this and trudges over through the knee deep snow to right the feline. "I think we should get you snow shoes or something. Won't get much traction on this stuff." She muses and glances to her favorite Aerialbot, grinning wide. "Glad you could make it, Raid! Having fun out here?" All the while she readjusts her plow to make sure it's on straight. Zipline wasn't able to get too much momentum, so she doesn't go sliding very far before she comes to a stop. "Sorry, dude," She says to Air Raid, and begins pulling her forelegs underneath her. They slip a few times, even with the sharp claws on the end of her paws. It's with Torque's help that Zipline finally gets back up on all four paws. "Thanks! This stuff kinda blows." Even for being a four legged speedbot, she doesn't seem all that well designed for snowy landscapes. "I can't go anywhere fast at all." She peers at the snow thoughtfully, then looks up to some of the other mechs playing around in the snow. "Hmmm..." Then she quickly starts gathering some of it up together, starting to form it into a large ball. Solder twitches anxiously. "I've got five more HIGH PRIORITY things to test out here! Torque, can you fetch me that... the... the one that looks like a giant pair of pliers!" -THOOM!- The weapon up to bat unleashes a sizable beam of bright purple plasma that melts the snow beneath its path, and lances into the mechanoid elephantine corpse. "WOO!" exclaims the inventor, "Hah! Now to make this thing not drain... eight energon batteries. Hn." A pair of engineers have wandered off from the pavilion towards the rest of the lollygaggers, one toting a small box. They look to be testing a forcefield, which shimmers into a golden half-dome over the snow. "Ahem," begins Air Raid, "this is not for /fun/, Torque, this is very serious weapons testing." He eventually smirks. "Yeah it's not bad, just don't catch a snowball in the vents." Brainstorm has arrived. Apocryphacius transforms into his Death mode. Imager turns her head instinctively, to check behind her at Air Raid's words. "Uh...yeah! lemme help you with that, Solder." She pauses, "Eight energon batteries for THAT? You've got to be kidding me, I just MADE half of these this week, you know how much time that ta....Ugghhhhh." The refueler laments right in the middle of her rant, "Fine fine, at least we can look over the results and all the monitoring later.' One arm reaches back to reattach her shield to her back, take THAT snowballs in the back!, then she schelps one of the weapons off the field, big and strong enough to do the job herself, though she does pause, noticing Torque's strength at some other project. "So do I get one of those forcefield watzits myself?" Her Helios Array sparkles for a moment, duplicating the golden field effect, "Nice!" She says, and by the look on her face, she means it for once. Death has been called out for some weapons-testing on Cybertron, in the snow, surrounded by giant robots. He does not believe in reincarnation, but neverless, he is starting to believe that he did something amazingly wrong in a past life. The Quintesson is bundled up in a several NASA metal thermal blankets that he has stitched together to make a crude snow-poncho with tentacle holes, and he feels like he's probably going to catch a cold and/or freeze, in some order. Apocryphacius asks dubiously, "Are we doing thermal testing, then?" ".. Oh now -that- is what I'm talking about!" Sandstorm hops off the peak of the snowmound and slides down the slope as if he were snowboarding. Just without the board. Though he does have one of those, but that's for later. Upon reaching the ground the Wrecker bounds off to were a couple of other techs are setting up one of the weapons waiting for testing. It looks like a tri-pod mounted minigun, four barrels of bullet spewing doom glistening in light reflecting off the snowy ground. One of the techs is adjusting the holo-sight when Sandstorm all but pushes him out of the way to get a closer look. "Smeg yeah, you got it down to a portable size finally!" Sandstorm grabs the barrel assembly with both hands and gives it a slight twist to one side, then the other. "Hmm, feels like the rotary coupling is still a bit tight, you're not going to get full firing rate with that." He gives it another slight twist. "I think you need a smaller radius drive gear and a shorter shaft between it and the motor to reduce loss of rpms to friction of multiple moving parts." The two techs just sort of stare up at the Wrecker of all people rambling in some fairly technical terms. "That and your ammo box is way too small to support that much bullet spread." Okay that sounds more like a Wrecker. The two are still kind of gawking all the same though. "Blows? Psh, this stuff's great!" Torque can't boast enough, though Raid's comment has her snorting with a smile. "I'll try not to. On the other hand.." She notes Zipline gathering up snow and gets an idea, rubbing her chin a little. "Hmm.." Before she can get into any mischief, Solder calls for her attention, but it seems Imager has it covered. "Thanks!" She waves to the big femme and gets to work on her little plan. Hands delve into the snow and grab up a nice big handful that she molds into the size of a Cybertronian scale softball. Then, using her strength, she compresses it down to baseball size so it's nice and dense. "Watch this." Torque smirks mischeviously at Raid and Zipline before pulling her arm back and pitching the snowball all the way across the field towards the testing site, hoping to bean Sandstorm in the head. Girl's got an arm, that's for sure. Combat: Torque sets her defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Torque strikes Sandstorm with her Snowball Fight! (Grab) attack! Brainstorm comes rocketing into view in jet mode, tearing haphazardly across the tundra and nearly crashing a few times before landing and transforming near the gathering of Atobots- and Paco. "Sorry I'm late! Did I miss anything? PLEASE TELL ME I didn't MISS ANYTHING! .... Well, anything cool, at least." He notices Torque hit Sandstorm with a snowball. "Oooh, I came prepared for that." And indeed, after he transforms he can be seen to be holding a huge gun of some kind that looks like a cross between a snow scoop and a tennis ball thrower. The inventor laughs nervously, "It's still in development! I'll make it a lot more efficient. Soon!" The techy-types exchange looks with one another when Sandstorm talks science. But a few are quick to jot down notes. Until a spatter of snow litters the area! "Thermal testing?" Illume asks Apocryphacius. "You mean like what you're wearing? ...Well, er, how is it fairing?" He tries to humor the Quintesson, maybe it's a joke. The pair of techs experimenting with their little forcefield offer Imager a thumbs-up, "Yeah, we're hopin'! A few more rounds of testing, first." Air Raid cracks up laughing when Torque manages to land a solid hit. "HAH! Ah, wait, another egghead. Hang on..." He follows suit, balling up another handful of snow to hurl at... Brainstorm. Combat: F-15E Strike Eagle sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: F-15E Strike Eagle strikes Brainstorm with his Snowballlll (Grab) attack! Combat: Gained 4 energon. Air Raid folds and compacts into his robot mode. "That is an extremely inefficient method of weaponizing snow," Apocryphacius observes gravely. "I see no purpose to it whatsoever, aside from perhaps a distraction, but even a blinding flash of light would be superior in such a role." "It hasn't really proved itself to be that cool," Zipline replies, "But I'm giving it a shot." Being small does have its disadvantages though. So does having paws, but Zipline's are dexterious enough that she still manages to mold a bit of snow into a ball-like shape. But then instead of trying to actually throw it, she loads it into the cannon on her back. Sure, it's a railcannon so she can't actually launch the snowball at super-sonic speeds, but the launcher should haveenough ooomph to launch something without needing to magnetize it, right? Nooot quite. Instead of launching the snowball, there's a *FPMF* and Zipline is covered in a cloud of snow. "Right, needs adjusting," She mutters, segmented tail flicking in annoyance. But she grins fangily when Torque flings her own snowball all the way in Sandstorm's direction. "Now THAT'S more like it!" Splat! Torque's aim is true and the snowball hits Sandstorm square in the back of the head... Or it would be, if he didn't have that silly box hood around his head. The impact does give him a bit of a snap forward though. "Hey!" He reachs back to brush the snow off his cowling. "No far ballin' a mech when he ain't looking." Then looks to the two still staring techs for a moment. "You'll have to excuse me, gents. This just got personal." He pushes himself to his feet, then rolls a shoulder coupling before finally turning around to the others. "Was that you, Torque? Because kitty there don't have hands and I know Air Raid doesn't have a throw like that. And now I've got to show you how it's really done..." It's never a good sign when a Wrecker chuckles, is it? Probably not. Especially when he pulls out his rifle. Flips it in one hand to point down and shoves it into the snow next to him. Flips it back up intoa proper grip as he snaps his arm up, points it at Torque hopefully faster than she can realize what he's doing, and fires! Just with a big glob of snow instead of it's usual grit and grime. Combat: Sandstorm strikes Torque with his Snowblaster Gun attack! -4 Imager uneasily nods to the techs as she puts away weapon 34-C - the FRIK-N Laser, and then grabs two more Energon batteries. "Whoa...whoa!" She staggers backwards against a crate as snowballs start flinging around. Her optics open wide, "K--Knock it off! We got delicate scrap over here!" It's actually a bit comical to see her warily stare down anyone near her, just halfway between panic and fury as she inches her way back over to where the batteries needed to go. She waves her hand to the emptied ones "I'll get those myself." Imager transforms into her hovercraft mode, kicking up some snow as well. The large solar array angles forwards and to the side, a thick almost solid beam is focused in the array then strikes the batteries, refilling em. "Right, go on it then." Imager kneels, then splits as she lays flat, then outer casing of her hovercraft mode sealing into position around her. "Whoo!" Torque cheers, jumping and throw a fist in the air. "Direct hit!" With a soft 'phew' she hangs a hand on a hip and smiles down at Zipline, snickering at her failed snow launcher. "Maybe try firming up the ball more? Could hold up bet-- Blrgh!" She glances up at Sandstorm's approach and gets a full powered shot of snow right in the face, the femme ending up tipping over and disappearing behind a drift. It'd actually be a few moments before any signs of her emerging arise, and she doesn't come empty handed. "Is this effective enough?" The medic beams, hefting up a beachball sized snowball. "Eat snow, Wrecker!" She cackles playfully and grunts when heaving the giant ball at Sandstorm to retaliate. Combat: Torque strikes Sandstorm with her Snowboulder (Grab) attack! Brainstorm gets hit with Raid's snowball. "Oof! Heh heh... THE GAME IS ON! I hope you are prepared for SNOWBALL FIGHT- BOSS LEVEL!" He thrusts the snow gun into a deep bank. Nothing happens as first, and it almost appears his weapon didn't work. Then a low rumbling sound begins to build and the snow bank begins to get sucked into some sort of vortex- with the gun at its center. Eventually the gun emerges from the disappearing white stuff and Brainstorm grabs it, hoisting it up triumphantly. He begins to laugh maniacally and the rumbling only increases- then a huge cascade of snowballs begin flinging everywhere. Possibly even hitting Air Raid, who the gun is aimed at. Heavy Hovercraft mager> pales... Combat: Brainstorm misses Death with his BOSS LEVEL (Ruckus) Area attack! -2 Combat: Brainstorm misses Zipline with his BOSS LEVEL (Ruckus) Area attack! -2 Combat: Brainstorm strikes Sandstorm with his BOSS LEVEL (Ruckus) Area attack! -2 Combat: Brainstorm strikes Torque with his BOSS LEVEL (Ruckus) Area attack! -2 Combat: Brainstorm misses Heavy Hovercraft mager> with his BOSS LEVEL (Ruckus) Area attack! -2 Combat: Brainstorm strikes Air Raid with his BOSS LEVEL (Ruckus) Area attack! -2 Combat: Brainstorm (Brainstorm) used "Ruckus": A Level 0 AREA-MELEE attack. Combat: You took 0 damage. <'Autobot'> Imager says, "WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!?!" <'Autobot'> Torque says, "Whoa!" <'Autobot'> Sandstorm on the other hand is laughing even while getting pummeled with snow. "And you mechs worry about me!" <'Autobot'> Torque says, "That's an awesome gun, Brainstorm!" <'Autobot'> Brainstorm says, "AIN'T IT THOUGH?!?" Air Raid is supremely offended upon hearing that he cannot throw as hard as Torque. "Hey... HEY!" He climbs up on a snow drift and points dramatically, completely oblivious to what Brainstorm is up to. "You take that back," he barks at Sandstorm, "I CAN THR-" PTHTHTHTTHTH! Down Air Raid goes, head first into the snow. Illume groans a bit. "We're testing things here! What if the 'cons show up! Bahhh," he waves everyone off and goes to take cover with the rest of the bemused techs. <'Autobot'> Zipline says, "That was wicked cool!" <'Autobot'> Brainstorm says, "THANKS!" Death hides behind a snowdrift when the snowballs start coming his way. He mutters, "This is ridiculous. I do believe I am going to freeze my tentacles off..." He starts works on constructing an igloo. A very large igloo, in case anyone wants to go hide inside the igloo with him. <'Autobot'> Brainstorm says, "And that was the small version. I had to leave the bigger one back at the lab." <'Autobot'> Air Raid says, "Ugh. TORQUE! Paco is building a garrison. Lets overtake it!" <'Autobot'> Apocryphacius says, "...I surrender." <'Autobot'> Torque laughs. <'Autobot'> Air Raid says, "...Paco you're supposed to fight back!" <'Autobot'> Apocryphacius says, "No, no, you can have this igloo." Sandstorm gets pelted by Torque's quality and Brainstorm's quanity at the same time, and there's one Wrecker once again buried in the snow. Laughing. "And you mechs worry about -me-!" He disappears under the heap of snow. And a moment later the snowpile practically explodes as he blasts out of it in buggy mode. Pay attention, Zipline. See how those big wide tires with deep treads give him more traction? Look at your tiny paws. No wonder you can barely stand up on the snow. Achem. Anyways. Shocks bounce and rattle a bit as Sandstorm hits the snowy terrain, and the buggy whips around to face rearward towards Brainstorm. It's almost like the click of a gun being cocked as he drops down the back suspension and his exhausts flare. And then with a VRRRRRROOOOOOM of roaring engine and spinning back wheels a HUGE WAVE of snow arcs into the air and down towards the scientist. <'Autobot'> Torque says, "Wanna help make it a fort, Apocryphacius? I shovel, you stack." Sandstorm transforms into his Desert Patrol Vehicle mode. Heavy Hovercraft mager> turns just in time to see Brainstorm take this VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION and make it EXCEEDINGLY DANGEROUS. Doesn't anyone here understand how HORRIBLE snow is? <> She manages to veer off just a little, fortunately out of the dread snowball field of fire. However she's had enough! Imager transforms back into Femme, and now Brainstorm has a size 7 problem. "You little shift!" She snarls, rearing back, "You coulda hit me with that!" She doesn't pull her punch here, trapped in the minefield from smelt itself. The Femme charges at Brainstorm, responding with completely disproportionate retibution! The hovercraft shudders, then folds in half. Imager stands up from around it, her ramplates becoming her pauldrons as the last step. Combat: Imager strikes Brainstorm with her Girl so cray-cray (Punch) attack! Combat: Desert Patrol Vehicle strikes Brainstorm with his A Real Snowjob attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Brainstorm's Accuracy. (Blinded) <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Stopitstopitstopit!" <'Autobot'> Apocryphacius says, "Having surrendered, I have no choice but to accept your offer of fortification." <'Autobot'> Sandstorm laughs. "I -was- stopping it. Him. Whatever!" <'Autobot'> Air Raid says, "Bahaha!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "YOU COULDA HIT ME!" <'Autobot'> Torque says, "Haha, it's just snow, Imager! C'mon, join our team!" <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, "Naaah." <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, "If I was gonna hit you I woulda used my chopper rotors!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Don't. You. Try. It." <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, "Lady" <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, "You should know better than to tempt me by sayin' no" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Sandstorm, don't you do it." <'Autobot'> Sandstorm says, ".... And wow, in retrospect that almost sounded like a come on." <'Autobot'> Torque says, "Heheh, I got yah covered, Imager!" "Or adjust the energy output," Zipline muses, "Maaaaybe both." But before she can experiment with getting a snowball to actually work in her launcher, there's snowballs flying EVERYWHERE! "Incoming!" She lunges forward, and... appears to have forgotten about the poor traction, because she starts sliding as soon as her forepaws hit the ground. It'd be impressive if she purposfully dodged all of those snowballs, but instead she ends up sliding right into a snowbank, and disappearing into it just in time to avoid getting hit. And for a few seconds, Zipline is out of the picture. At least until a pair of blue optics blink into existance on one side of the large snowbank. They fix on Brainstorm, and there is a dull whuummm of something charging underneath that snowbank. Them *FPOMF*, half of the snowbank is flying in Brainstorm's general direction, blasted by the force of a blank shot from Zipline's cannon. Oh, there she is. Combat: Zipline misses Brainstorm with her Impromptu snowball cannon! (Grab) attack! Torque doesn't expect one of Brainstorm's toys to come into play, so she's really not surprised to be bowled over by a hailstorm of snowballs. But she can't help laughing, really enjoying herself. "Hey now, I thought we were gonna use our hands!" She chides with a grin and pulls herself out, clambering over to Raid and dragging him out as well. "Go on and get started with Paco, I'll be there in a second!" With that said, Torque suddenly transforms into her truck mode and revs hard in Sandstorm's direction, not ready to give him up as a target yet. Chained tires spin in the snow before catching enough traction to race forward towards the buggy. And just as she reaches him she lowers the plow and turns hard to circle him, sending up continuous sheets of snow that pile up with each pass while he's distracted with Brainstorm. Torque folds in on herself while shifting to her altmode. Combat: Tow Truck strikes Desert Patrol Vehicle with her Buried Alive attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Desert Patrol Vehicle 's Agility. (Crippled) Air Raid gets pulled out of the drift by his shining heroine, Torque. "COME ON TORQUE!" he yells without missing a beat (and completely missing what she'd said), crossing the battlefield with big awkward steps, cockpit totally jammed with snow. "To the garrison!" The garrison is a lot less impressive up close. In fact it just looks like an igloo. "Blocks of snow. Good work Paco!" He picks up a block and lobs it at Sandstorm. Combat: Air Raid strikes Desert Patrol Vehicle with his SNOWBLOCK or wheel envy (Grab) attack! Combat: Gained 4 energon. Death has been conquered by Air Raid and Torque, and, as such, he switches his plans of a peaceful igloo to a FORTIFICATION OF WAR. Mostly this means that he digs a ditch around the igloo and starts lining the ditch with icicles, points up. He warns, "Air Raid, try not to fall into the ditch. It will... moderately inconvenience you." Brainstorm gets pummeled by a cascade of snow, thanks to Sandstorm, and then while he's still digging himself out of that, Imager comes in and creates a storm all her own. The Headmaster gets punched back into the snow drift he just pulled himself out of. "HEY HEY *OW*...*pft!* (He wipes away the snow now packed on his faceplate)... LIGHTEN UP, Sheesh! We're supposed to be having FUN HERE, RIGHT? THAT WAS FUN... in case you couldn't tell." He eyes her dubiously from his snowbank, then keeps pulling himself free. "Besides, I thought this was a weapons-testing field trip?- Woah!" just in time, he sees Zipline's attempt at reburying him in a snowbank, and jumps free. Imager may or may not still be in that general area, though. "Hahaha!" He reaches for the snowgun, but sadly it's buried thanks to Sandstorm and Zipline. He nods, hearing Torque, and gives in- for now, so he just grabs a snowball and hurls it back at the cat."Ok... this seems really sad compared to its predecessor, but whatcha gonna do?" Combat: Brainstorm misses Zipline with his One Little Snowball- A faint Echo of Former Glory (Grab) attack! <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "..." <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "The slag is going on out there?" <'Autobot'> Torque says, "Snowball fight of the century!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Stop shooting at/near me!" <'Autobot'> Illume says, "Weapons testing. The security is having a bit of fun." Sandstorm gets buried for the third time tonight by Torque. Which gets a little more insult added to it by Air Raid throwing a snow brick, but by that point there's so much snow it wouldn't really matter anyways. The Wrecker laughs from somewhere underneath. "Aahahaha, you guys got me." Pause. "... Now mind diging me out? I think my manifold jammed." <'Autobot'> Brainstorm says, "Well, see, Imager? Stop trying to punch me and you won't get hit by all these snowballs! Win/win!" <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "A security detail is having a /snowball/ fight." <'Autobot'> Brainstorm says, "Come join us! Loosen up! If you can....." <'Autobot'> Illume says, "Yes sir. But... We're just about done anyway, and there's no sign of Decepticons." <'Autobot'> Prowl grumbles... Imager is surprisingly agile for a big Femme. When everyone starts dogpiling Brainy and then Sandstorm, she hightails it out of the crossfire. "Stop it! You don't understand how volatile it is." That said, she draws her shield, and far enough away from the fray, she keeps it between her and these psychos who are playing with live ammo. Imager may never live this one down, as she peers over her shield at the rest of the Bots. Grumbling echoes Prowl's sentiments.... Combat: Imager sets her defense level to Protected. <'Autobot'> Imager grumbles too... "Slag Paco, you mean business." Air Raid edges away and lets out a whoop when it becomes clear that the grand and glorious Sandstorm is defeated. "Tha's right! I CAN THROW HARD!" he's sure to declare, thrusting his fist in the air. "WE WIN!" <'Autobot'> Prowl files a report for Ultra Magnus. <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "I don't want to think about what might happen if a Decepticon unit just...happened by." <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "I suppose you would pelt them with frozen water. Hmph!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "...." <'Autobot'> Air Raid says, "I'll tell ya' what'll happen. We've got enough firepower out here to blow up half the planet! We'll be fine." Oh dear, that doesn't sound good. Anything medical related certainly gets Torque's attention, so she finally slows down and transforms back to her robot mode. "Woops, might've went overboard there, eheh." She smiles, rubbing the back of her head while approaching. "Just gimme a sec.." With plow attatchment in one hand she starts to scoop away the snow, enough to finally see Sandstorm's bright colors again against the white. Once in view she grabs a hold of a bar on his roll cage and tugs him out with a small grunt of effort, all the while chuckling while saying, "That was fun, eh?" Torque shifts several plates before standing upright in robot mode. <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "Wielded by whom? Brainstorm, I presume?" <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "Right." <'Autobot'> Illume says, "Brainstorm is not permitted to touch these weapons." <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "So the answer is, if a Decepticon squadron happens by, then we'll blow up half the planet. Perfec.t" <'Autobot'> Brainstorm says, "I ONLY brought the LITTLE GUN. the BOG ONE is back in my lab. ... I changed the keys, by the way." <'Autobot'> Apocryphacius says, "Swamp weaponry is very tricky." <'Autobot'> Apocryphacius says, "Have you tried freshwater marshes as opposed to bogs?" <'Autobot'> Brainstorm says, "You've...given me an idea. OOO! OOO! YES! Oh mech...now I don't know if I should stay here, or head back to my lab.... THANKS APOC! THAT WAS A GENIUS IDEA!" <'Autobot'> Prowl says, "Fine. I'll just report that you refused to comply with follow-up inspections." <'Autobot'> Impulse says, "And if you drain the swamps, then where is Sludge going to play?" <'Autobot'> Apocryphacius says, "You are sincerely welcome, Autobot Brainstorm." Zipline's feet move to try and get her out of the way of Brainstorm's single snowball being flung her way. Too much speed, not enough traction though, making it look like she's running in place. But finally momentum gives out, and she goes skidding away from the snowball just shy of being on the wrong end of it. Even when she stops though, her momentum keeps her going. She's not sliding on her belly for once, but she isn't necissarily stopping up until very nearly topples into the ditch now around the fortified igloo. "Whew." Claws dig into the snow, keeping her from moving even an inch. "Okay, THAT part was fun. But still not real sold on this cray snow stuff." "No, overboard was the time Menosar tried to do it to the whole damn Earth," Sandstorm retorts, and finally gets unwedged from the snow with a few tugs from the femme. That girl is strong, no doubt of that. "Thanks, toots." Once he's free enough to move he converts back into robot mode and dust himself off. Snow himself off. Though snow can be called a dusting so maybe that di... oh nevermind. "Imager didn't kill Brainstorm yet, right?" Desert Patrol Vehicle transforms into his Sandstorm mode. Brainstorm says, "I'm RIGHT HERE! Imager worked through her issues. I'VE VERY PROUD OF HER." Brainstorm waves to Sandstorm and Imager, then looks back to Zipline. "You need some snowshoes or something? I could fix you up something right quick... make you more of a snow leopard than a cheetah, but... cats are adaptable, right?"" Soundwave has arrived. Soundwave lights on the snow, an hour later after investigating strange energy readings. He looks over the scape, noting the damaged pistonmammoth. He kneels down to the snow, brushing at it. "SOMEONE...." He looks up menacingly, "HAS BEEN HAVING A SNOWBALL FIGHT."